"Unabated Luxury"

That’s what the front of our travel folder says! Gotta’ love that. Yes, I admit, I am very spoiled when it comes to traveling!

Day 1

Our trip started out in the most unusual way. We rarely get snow in Nashville. You might know, that the day we leave for our Costa Rica trip, they are calling for snow and ice. We had a driver picking us up at 3:30 a.m. to take us and the Broussards to the airport. As it turns out, the bad weather started around 3 a.m. We got to the airport without any hitches. We boarded our flight and then sat for over an hour as they de-iced the plane. Turns out, we were the first and last flight to get out of Nashville today. They shut the airport down.

Stephanie and Mindy were off work. Mindy said it was a good thing because she wasn't feeling so well. Seems she can't resist the little snow we get!

A lot of ice first.

 She doesn't look to sick to me!

And Justin is supposed to be sick too! Plus, he's from Boston, so snow isn't much of a novelty to him. Well maybe it is now since he doesn't get to experience it much since moving to Nashville.

On to our trip. We were disappointed that our friends, David and Linda had to cancel at the last minute due to illness. David has a pretty bad case of the flu. We just hope he gets better soon. We'll miss them. Linda told me---ahem---I don't think it was confidential---but she got her very first and last bikini wax! Ouch! All for nothing. I think she was planning to sport a bikini on this trip! Where no one would know her!! Maybe another time!

By the time we got to Miami, we had missed our connecting flight. We were able to get on a later flight. We didn’t have any plans today except for our sundown dinner in the woods. When we arrived at the airport, our driver met us with “goodie” bags. We all like free stuff! It was full of bottled water, bags of coffee and chocolates. He told us a little about Costa Rica. Apparently their weather is either wet or less wet!!

After a 2 hour drive, we arrived at the El Silencio Resort and Spa. 

 How I managed to not get a shot of the front of the hotel I'll never know. I'll get one later. This is the view from the front porch. The foliage is unbelievable!! These look like giant geranium leaves.

Just so you can see how big these leaves are. I found out it's called a "poor man's umbrella." I'll bet it's in the geranium family!!

 This is the view from the back of the hotel.

Hydrangeas grow wild here---and they're the blue ones to boot.

We were greeted with hot towels and a celery flavored smoothie. Not exactly my cup of tea, but still, it made us feel special.

We love doing private tours so you can change things to suit your needs. For example, we were scheduled for a private coffee tasting this afternoon. Orlando (easy to remember his name)---the guy that was doing it said we could just change it to tomorrow afternoon since we just got in.

Our room was in the jungle---more like a little cabin. Very rustic. Everything here is green---furniture, lights, lamps are made out of sticks and wood. We even have our own private hot tub outside surrounded by a bamboo wall. 

We took a little time settling in and then met for cocktails. We had pre-planned a private dinner out in the jungle next to the roaring river. They had tiki torches for lighting and had to use gas heaters since it was chilly. The food was fabulous, but way too much.

When we returned to our cabin we found hot water bottles heating our beds. We fell in to bed at 9:30 after being up since 2 a.m.

Day 2---bird watching and a waterfall hike.